Cleaning Codfish

It is usual first to remove the gills by cutting their connection with the rest of
the head and shoulders and pulling them out. Lay the fish on his back, open the
belly by cutting down the center, remove the inside, carefully preserving the liver and
roe, and leaving the sounds uninjured. If the fish is to be cooked whole it should be
” scored ” to the bone transversely at intervals of two inches ; but if it is to be cooked
in pieces, cut it in slices three inches thick and soak the fish in water for a quarter of
an hour. Cod is crimped by being cut up and notched with a knife while partly alive;
but some cooks object to this. The following recipes for cooking cod are carefully
selected as likely to give sufficient variety to suit all tastes and to all purposes. The
fish is usually divided, by the fishmonger, into ” head and shoulders,” ” middle ” and
” tail; ” but although preference may be given to the middle cut, the tail is quite as
good, although not so fleshy, and the head yields in quantity the gelatine that makes
excellent soup. Codlings are for the most part amenable to the same treatment.